Whether for online poker players or to operators which are PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com and AbsolutePoker.com, last Friday, April 15th was a tragic day. Indeed, the FBI decided to close the access to these three online poker rooms. The reason is that leaders of these gambling sites are accused of money laundering, bank fraud and illegal acts. As a reminder, online poker game is illegal in the U.S.A. Since October 2006, the law entitled Unlawfull Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) prohibited all money transfers to online poker websites. While most gaming sites decided to abandon the game, these three sites didn't closed their accounts. They were helped by some operators as Daniel Tzvetkoff, the director of the company Intabill to continue to operate in the U.S. market. And this latter was apprehended by the justice since April 2010.

And the director of Intabill revealed to the justice all the scams perpetrated by operators of these sites of online poker, which is irrefutable evidence that allow the court to proceed to their arrests. So, last weekend, the FBI launched prosecution against the leaders of these sites. While some have already been arrested as Chad Elie, John Campos and Bradley Franze, other operators who do not reside in the United States are still free but the FBI has already made a request to Interpol to facilitate their prosecution. This Black Day, as journalists qualified it, will have significant implications for members and players of these three online poker rooms not only because they can't no longer play poker but they have also lost their advantages.